Earlier this year, we got our first taste of the latest PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSDs, offering up to 10,000 MB/s read and write capabilities. These drives were first but we knew that faster drives would be entering the market sooner or later as the technology matured. Furthermore, Gen5 platforms are more accessible to a wider range of audiences with the introduction of mainstream AMD & Intel motherboards.

But while Gen5 NVMe SSDs keep pushing the envelope of what storage products can achieve, the market for Gen4 drives is still very vivid with lots of competition and some really good options out for everyone. Crucial already has one of the fastest SSD solutions out at the moment in the form of its T700 Pro series, peaking out at over 12 GB/s speeds and now, the company is also introducing a brand new T500 Pro lineup which delivers top-notch Gen4 capabilities.

For today's review, we will be taking a look at both, Crucial's T700 PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSDs powered by the Phison E26 controller & T500 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs powered by the Phison E25 controller.

Crucial T700 PRO 1 TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD

The Crucial T700 Gen5 SSD is part of the new Pro series lineup. The Crucial T700 Gen5 SSDs are based on the NVMe SSD form factor and feature the latest Micron 232-layer TLC NAND flash which offers larger capacities of up to 4 TB, twice the performance of Gen4 drives, & full compliance with Microsoft's DirectStorage API. The Crucial T700 SSDs are based on the high-end Phison E26 SSD controller which is in use by some of the fastest Gen5 drives at the moment.

FEATURES

Sequential reads/writes up to 12,400/11,800MB/sNearly 2x faster than our Gen4 SSDMore than 22x faster than SATACapacities of 1, 2, and 4TBfor more games and UHD/8K+ videosCompatible with Intel 13th Gen & AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPUsBackward compatibility in Gen3 and Gen4 systemsBuilt with Micron 232-layer TLC NANDPremium heatsink for maximum heat dissipation without noisy fans or liquid cooling blocks (non-heatsink option available)Reduce game texture load times with Microsoft DirectStorageHardware encryption for storage security with TCG Opal 2.01

As for the specs, the Crucial T700 Gen5 NVMe SSDs will come with the standard NVMe 2.0 PCIe Gen 5 x4 interface in the M.2 2280 form factor. It will feature 1 TB, 2 TB, and up to 4 TB capacities with a rated speed of 12.4 GB/s (Sequential Read) and 11.8 GB/s (Sequential Write). The majority of Gen 5 drives available right now peak out at 10 GB/s Read and 9.5 GB/s Write speeds. Furthermore, these T700 Gen5 SSDs will be available in a Non-heatsink and Heatsink option but will drop the active-fan cooler which means that you don't have to worry about extra noise in your PC when running these.

Note - The 1 TB model that we tested had a peak sequential read speed of 11,700 & a write speed of 9,500 MB/s. The Random Reads and Writes IOPS were rated at 1350K/1400K IOPS & endurance was rated at 600 TBW.

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Crucial goes further into the heatsink design of the T700 Gen5 NVMe SSDs which feature a double-sided PCB with targeted thermal materials, a nickel-plated copper bottom plate, an aluminum plate & a sleek design to maximize airflow. The heatsink is quite chunky and measures 20.5mm tall. The prices are as follows:

T700 1.0 TB No Heatsink - $159.99 UST700 2.0 TB No Heatsink - $269.99 UST700 4.0 TB No Heatsink - $479.99 UST700 1.0 TB W/ Heatsink - $167.99 UST700 2.0 TB W/ Heatsink - $284.99 UST700 4.0 TB W/ Heatsink - $499.99 US

Crucial T700 Gen5 SSD Lineup Specifications:

Crucial T500 PRO 2 TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD

The Crucial T500 Gen5 SSD is also part of the new Pro series lineup. The Crucial T500 Gen4 SSDs are based on the NVMe SSD form factor and feature the latest Micron 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash which offers larger capacities of up to 4 TB, twice the performance of Gen3 drives, & full compliance with Microsoft's DirectStorage API with Phison's I/O+ technology. The Crucial T500 SSDs are based on the high-end Phison PS5025-E25 SSD controller which peaks out the Gen4 speeds beyond 7 GB/s.

FEATURES

Sequential read/write speeds up to 7,400/7,000MB/s2Random read/write speeds up to 1.18/1.44M IOPs2PCIe 4.0 NVMe 2280 M.2 SSDBuilt with Micron 232-layer 3D TLC NAND1Available with and without a low-profile integrated heatsink, perfect for PS5 console upgradesSpacious capacity options: 500GB, 1TB, 2TB8Micron LPDDR4 DRAM, 1GB per 1TB of NAND flashPhison PS5025-E25 ControllerMicrosoft DirectStorage optimized with Phison I/O+ technologyWorks with laptops, desktops, and PS5 consolesBackward compatible with PCIe 3.05-year limited warranty10

As for the specs, the Crucial T500 Gen4 NVMe SSDs will come with the standard NVMe 2.0 PCIe Gen 5 x4 interface in the M.2 2280 form factor. It will feature 1 TB, 2 TB, and up to 4 TB capacities with a rated speed of 7.4 GB/s (Sequential Read) and 7.0 GB/s (Sequential Write). The Phison E25 'PS5025-E25' SSD controller is designed to offer external DRAM and a maximum transfer speed of up to 7.2 GB/s+. That's a 200 MB/s increase over the existing Phison E18 controllers & also features thermal & power management updates.

Note - The 2 TB model that we tested had a peak sequential read speed of 7,400 & a write speed of 7,000 MB/s. The Random Reads and Writes IOPS were rated at 1180K/1440K IOPS & endurance was rated at 1200 TBW.

The SSD comes in both heatsink and heatsink-less variants with the heatsink being a super-slim design with a thickness of 9.7mm. That's about as much as three T500 SSDs stacked on top of each other. The heatsink SKUs are also fully compatible with the PlayStation 5 console. The prices are as follows:

T500 0.5 TB No Heatsink - $89.99 UST500 1.0 TB No Heatsink - $119.99 UST500 2.0 TB No Heatsink - $169.99 UST500 1.0 TB W/ Heatsink - $129.99 UST500 2.0 TB W/ Heatsink - $179.99 US

Crucial T500 Gen4 SSD Lineup Specifications:

Phison Controller Specs

	PS5016-E16	PS5018-E18	PS5020-E20	PS5026-E26
Interface	PCIe 4.0 x4	PCIe 4.0 x4	PCIe 4.0 x4	PCIe 5.0 x4
Protocol	NVMe 1.3	NVMe 1.4	NVMe 1.4	NVMe 2.0
Process Node	28nm (TSMC)	12nm (TSMC)	TBD	12nm (TSMC)
Package	529-ball TFBGA, 16×16mm	529-ball FCCSP, 12×12mm	TBD	576-ball FCCSP, 16×16mm
CPU cores	2 × ARM Cortex R5	3 × ARM Cortex R5	TBD	2 × ARM Cortex R5 3 × Proprietary IP CoX Processor
NAND Channel (CE)	8 (32)	8 (32)	8 (32)	8 (32)
Max Capacity	8TB	8TB	TBD	32TB
Transfer Channel	800MT/s	1,600MT/s	TBD	2,400MT/s
ECC	4th Gen LDPC	4th Gen LDPC	4th Gen LDPC	5th Gen LDPC
Security Features	Pyrite AES 256	Pyrite AES 256 SHA 512 RSA 4096 TCG Opal	TBD	AES 256 SHA 512 RSA 4096 TCG Opal 2.0
Sequential Read	5,000 MB/s	7,400MB/s	TBD	12,000MB/s
Sequential Write	4,400 MB/s	7,000MB/s	TBD	11,000MB/s
4K Random Read	720,000 IOPS	1,000,000 IOPS	TBD	1,500,000 IOPS
4K Random Write	750,000 IOPS	1,000,000 IOPS	TBD	2,000,000 IOPS

Crucial T700 Gen5 & T500 Gen4 NVMe SSDs – Unboxing and Closer Look

All three PRO Series SSDs from Crucial, the T700 & T500, come in a fairly standard and small package with a blue and white color scheme. The labels do a great job at telling what SSD you are getting since the capacities, speeds and warranty are clearly mentioned along with a picture of the device itself which makes sure you know if you are getting the heatsink and the non-heatsink SSD.

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The Crucial PRO SSD series box includes a warranty booklet and the SSD itself. All drives are held within a plastic shell container.

Out of the package, all Crucial Pro series SSDs come in the standard M.2 2280 form factor and feature a black PCB which is great since some mainstream drives come with blue-colored PCBs.

The front of the heatsink drives comes with the Crucial and model label while the heatsink-les variant has the same labels mentioned over a sticker.

In terms of sizes, the drives measure:

Crucial T700 with heatsink: 80x23x20.5mmCrucial T500 with heatsink: 80x23x9.7mmCrucial T500 no heatsink: 80x22x2.3mm

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The Crucial T500 features the Phison E25 Gen4 SSD controller while the Crucial T700 SSDs feature the Phison E26 Gen5 SSD controller.

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Test Setup

Our test platform for this review consisted of an Intel Core i9-13900K processor which ran at stock clocks on the MSI Z790 ACE motherboard. The platform was coupled with 32 GB of DDR5 memory from G.Skill (Trident Z5/ 16 GB x 2) and the MSI MEG Ai1300P PSU. For graphics, I used the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X. This rounds up as a high-end platform for tests with modern-day SSDs. The MSI Z790 ACE specifically houses a single Gen 5.0 x4 NVMe slot that sources its lanes from the Raptor Lake CPU.

Wccftech SSD Test Setup 2023

Processor	Intel Core i9-13900K
Motherboard:	MSI MEG Z790 ACE
Power Supply:	MSI MEG Ai1300P (1300W)
Solid State Drive:	MSI Spatium M480 Pro 2 TB Gen 4 Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 AORUS Gen 5 10000 2 TB Solidigm P41 Plus 1 TB Gen 4 Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB Gen 4 Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB (Gen 4) Seagate IronWolf 525 500 GB (Gen 4) Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB (Gen 4) MSI Spatium M450 1 TB (Gen 4) MSI Spatium M480 2 TB (Gen 4) MSI Spatium M470 1 TB (Gen 4) TeamGroup CARDEA C440 1 TB (Gen 4) TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB (Gen 3) TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB (Gen 4) TeamGroup T-Create Classic 2 TB (Gen 3)
Memory:	G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-7400 (2 x 16 GB)
Case:	Cooler Master C700M
Video Cards:	MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X
Cooling Solutions:	MSI MEG S360 AIO Liquid Cooler
OS:	Windows 11 64-bit

Crucial T700 Gen5 & T500 Gen4 SSD Performance Benchmarks

First up, we have the official performance stats for these drives as listed by their manufacturers. You can compare these stats with the rest of the drives I tested in the following chart:

Official SSD Stats (IOPS)

Random Read 4 KB (IOPS)

Random Write 4KB (IOPS)

0

250000

500000

750000

1000000

1250000

1500000

0

250000

500000

750000

1000000

1250000

1500000

Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 1.4m

1.5m

Crucial T700 1 TB Gen 5 1.4m

1.4m

AORUS Gen 5 1000 2 TB 1.4m

1.4m

Crucial T500 2 TB Gen 4 1.2m

1.4m

MSI Spatium M480 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 1m

1m

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 1m

1m

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 1m

1m

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 750k

750k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 700k

650k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 700k

650k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 650k

700k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 650k

700k

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 680k

670k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 600k

600k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 420k

550k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 420k

550k

Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB Gen 4 390k

540k

Solidigm P41 Plus 1 TB Gen 4 225k

520k

Official SSD Stats (MB/s)

Sequential Read (MB/s)

Sequential Write (MB/s)

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

24000

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

24000

Crucial T700 1 TB Gen 5 11.7k

9.5k

Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 10k

9.5k

AORUS Gen 5 1000 2 TB 10k

9.5k

Crucial T500 2 TB Gen 4 7.4k

7k

MSI Spatium M480 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 7.4k

7k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 7.4k

7k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 7k

6.9k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 7k

6.8k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 7k

6.8k

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 7k

5k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 7k

5.5k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 5k

4.4k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 5k

4.4k

Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB Gen 4 4.1k

3.3k

Solidigm P41 Plus 1 TB Gen 4 4.1k

3k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 3.6k

3k

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 3.4k

3k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 3.3k

3k

AS SSD Benchmark

AS SSD Benchmark download is a Windows 10 utility software program that tests the performance of solid-state drives. With its help, you can find out the speed of all installed SSDs and take care of any issues that the tests may reveal. The free app performs three separate tests to provide you with conclusive evidence of your driver's general behavior while it copies, reads, and writes data. The app determines the access time of an SSD, along with its speed and performance capabilities

AS-SSD Benchmark

AS-SSD Score

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

24000

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

24000

Crucial T700 1 TB Gen 5 17.2k

Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 16.6k

AORUS Gen 5 1000 2 TB 16.4k

Crucial T500 2 TB Gen 4 13k

MSI Spatium M480 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 12.2k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 12.1k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 12k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 11.9k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 11.8k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 11.7k

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 8.6k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 7.2k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 7k

Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB Gen 4 5.6k

Solidigm P41 Plus 1 TB Gen 4 5k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 4.9k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 4.9k

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 4.8k

ATTO 3.05 Disk Benchmark

As the industry’s leading provider of high-performance storage & network connectivity products, ATTO has created a widely-accepted Disk Benchmark freeware software to help measure storage system performance. As one of the top tools utilized in the industry, Disk Benchmark identifies performance in hard drives, solid-state drives, RAID arrays as well as the host connection to attached storage. Top drive manufacturers, like Hitachi, build and test every drive using the ATTO Disk Benchmark.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturer's RAID controllers, storage controllers, host bus adapters (HBAs), hard drives, and SSD drives, and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.

ATTO v3.05 128 KB Sequential QD4

Sequential Read (MB/s)

Sequential Write (MB/s)

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

24000

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

24000

Crucial T700 1 TB Gen 5 11.6k

9.8k

Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 10.1k

9.9k

AORUS Gen 5 1000 2 TB 10k

9.6k

Crucial T500 2 TB Gen 4 7.4k

7.3k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 7.2k

7.3k

MSI Spatium M480 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 7.2k

7.1k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 7.2k

7.1k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 7.1k

7.2k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 7.1k

7.2k

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 5.1k

4.4k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 6.8k

7.1k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 5.1k

5.3k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 5k

5.2k

Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB Gen 4 4.4k

3.6k

Solidigm P41 Plus 1 TB Gen 4 4.2k

3.2k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 3.8k

3.9k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 3.7k

3.6k

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 3.6k

3.5k

Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0 x64

CrystalDiskMark is a disk benchmark software. It measures sequential reads/writes speed, random 512KB, 4KB, 4KB (Queue Depth=32) reads/writes speed, selects test data (Random, 0Fill, 1Fill),

Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0 x64 SEQ1M Q8T1

Sequential Read (MB/s)

Sequential Write (MB/s)

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

24000

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

24000

Crucial T700 1 TB Gen 5 11.5k

9.9k

Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 10.2k

9.9k

AORUS Gen 5 1000 2 TB 10.1k

9.9k

Crucial T500 2 TB Gen 4 7.4k

7.1k

MSI Spatium M480 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 7.3k

7.1k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 7.2k

7k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 7.1k

7k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 7.1k

7k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 7.1k

6.9k

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 7.1k

6.7k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 6.7k

5.1k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 7.1k

5.6k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 5.3k

4.5k

Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB Gen 4 5.2k

4.4k

Solidigm P41 Plus 1 TB Gen 4 4.2k

3.6k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 4.1k

3.2k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 3.7k

3.6k

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 3.5k

3.3k

Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0 x64 4KiB Q1T1

Random Read (MB/s)

Random Write (MB/s)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Crucial T700 1 TB Gen 5 125

521

Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 120

511

AORUS Gen 5 1000 2 TB 120

510

Crucial T500 2 TB Gen 4 112

495

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 112

492

MSI Spatium M480 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 111

490

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 109

485

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 109

485

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 108

481

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 100

450

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 88

428

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 79

424

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 76

412

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 75

410

Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB Gen 4 75

410

Solidigm P41 Plus 1 TB Gen 4 74

409

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 74

408

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 73

405

File Transfer Speeds (100 GB File Size)

To test the maximum average transfer speeds of the drives, I used a 100 GB file to test the limits.

File Transfer Rate (MB/s)

Transfer Speed (MB/s)

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Crucial T700 1 TB Gen 5 2.1k

Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 2k

AORUS Gen 5 1000 2 TB 2k

Crucial T500 2 TB Gen 4 1.6k

MSI Spatium M480 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 1.6k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 1.6k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 1.6k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 1.6k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB 1.5k

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 1.5k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 1.5k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 1.3k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 1.2k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 1.2k

Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB Gen 4 950

Solidigm P41 Plus 1 TB Gen 4 920

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 891

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 855

PCMark 10 Storage Benchmark

The PCMark 10 Storage benchmark is designed to test the performance of SSDs, HDDs, and hybrid drives with traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, and a selection of popular games. You can test the system drive or any other recognized storage device, including local external drives. Unlike synthetic storage tests, the PCMark 10 Storage benchmark highlights real-world performance differences between storage devices.

PCMark 10 System Disk Storage Bench

Disk Score (Higher is Better)

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

Crucial T700 1 TB Gen 5 5k

Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 4.9k

AORUS Gen 5 1000 2 TB 4.7k

Crucial T500 2 TB Gen 4 3.5k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 3.5k

MSI Spatium M480 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 3.5k

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 3.3k

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 3.3k

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 3.3k

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 3.3k

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 2.8k

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 2.7k

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 2.7k

Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB Gen 4 2.6k

Solidigm P41 Plus 1 TB Gen 4 2.2k

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 2.2k

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 2.1k

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 2k

PCMark 10 System Disk Access Times

Access Times (Lower is Better)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Crucial T700 1 TB Gen 5 30

Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 30

AORUS Gen 5 1000 2 TB 31

Crucial T500 2 TB Gen 4 41

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 43

MSI Spatium M480 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 44

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 45

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 45

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 45

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 46

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 46

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 48

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 52

Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB Gen 4 53

Solidigm P41 Plus 1 TB Gen 4 55

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 57

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 58

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 62

Forspoken DirectStorage Benchmark

Forspoken DirectStorage Benchmark (Load Time In Seconds)

Access Times (Lower is Better)

0

3

6

9

12

15

18

0

3

6

9

12

15

18

Crucial T700 1 TB Gen 5 9

Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 10

AORUS Gen 5 1000 2 TB 10

Crucial T500 2 TB Gen 4 10

MSI Spatium M480 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 10

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 10

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 10

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 10

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 10

TeamGroup CARDEA Creamic C440 1 TB Gen 4 11

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 11

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 11

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 11

Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB Gen 4 11

Solidigm P41 Plus 1 TB Gen 4 11

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 11

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 13

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 13

7200 RPM HDD 1 TB 14

Conclusion - Crucial Sets The New Benchmark

Crucial's T700 & T500 are finally out and they are setting a new benchmark for NVMe SSDs. Both the T700 and T500 stood tall and strong within our benchmark suite and no matter what we threw at them, they just crunched it like nothing in each respective segment (Gen 5 and Gen 4).

Starting with the Crucial T700, it is currently the fastest line of Gen5 drives offering up to 12.4 GB/s speeds and even the 1 TB with its 11.7 GB/s offered outstanding performance. This kind of NVMe performance comes at a cost though and the 1 TB drive is listed for $167.99 US at the moment or almost twice as much as 1 TB Gen4 drives. The Gen5 SSDs also require a fast PC with the latest specs and support for Gen5 hardware so it makes perfect sense for those who are building their new PCs and going to use the T700 Gen5 for the primary OS.

Temperatures

Temps (Lower is Better)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Crucial T700 1 TB Gen 5 (Without heatsink) 82

Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB Gen 4 76

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 72

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 71

MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB Gen 4 69

MSI Spatium M450 1 TB Gen 4 67

AORUS Gen 5 10000 2 TB (Copper pad only) 65

Crucial T500 2 TB Gen 4 (Without heatsink) 64

Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB Gen 4 63

Solidigm P41 Plus 1 TB Gen 4 60

Crucial T700 1 TB Gen 5 (With heatsink) 58

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 56

MSI Spatium M390 1 TB Gen 3 56

TeamGroup CARDEA Ceramic C440 1 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 55

TeamGroup CARDEA IOPS 1 TB Gen 3 (With heatsink) 53

AORUS Gen 5 10000 2 TB (With heatsink) 52

Crucial T500 2 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 51

TeamGroup CARDEA A440 PRO 2 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 50

MSI SPATIUM M480 PLAY 2 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 49

Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 47

Inland TD510 2 TB Gen 5 (With fan heatsink) 47

MSI SPATIUM M480 2 TB Gen 4 (With heatsink) 45

AORUS Gen 5 10000 2 TB SSD (With ASRock Blazing M.2 heatsink) 42

Meanwhile, the T500 is the fastest Gen4 drive that I have tested and offers a blistering fast NVMe performance which you'd expect from it given its high-end pricing which is more expensive than Samsung's 990 Pro 2 TB which can be found for $134.99 & $149.99 US (Heatsink) right now. T500 retails for $169.99 US for the standard and $179.99 US for the heatsink model which is a very high price to be paying for a 2 TB drive this late. The good thing is that both drives come with software and encryption support and the heatsink provides very decent temperatures since the T500 uses a single-side PCB layout.

Crucial's PRO series with the T700 & T500 tackle the high-end Gen5 and Gen4 segments and win with strong and competitive performance versus the competition. The pricing may see adjustment as faster products are rolled out later down the road but if you are looking for a speedy drive, then Crucial has the products to power your PCs!

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